Yudala Infinix Month promotion is ridiculous

The Vanguard carries news of a supposed ongoing promotion in which Infinix Mobility is partnering Yudala to cut the prices of Infinix smartphones by half in what has been tagged the Yudala Infinix Month promotion. Here is the link to the news item: Infinix, Yudala partner to boost access to Infinix devices.

An excerpt from the Vanguard news item:

According to Infinix, “Customers all over Nigeria can expect up to 50 per cent discount off any Infinix phone purchased online and offline at Yudala, also free Infinix accessories pack worth N10,000. The free accessories pack include: smart pouch, smart bands, etc.

It sounded like a great offer and jumped at it!

Loading up the Yudala website and checking out the promo, we found nothing close to 50% discount there. The Infinix Note 2 is on offer at N40,000 from N43,000. That’s a 7% discount, not 50%. Not 40%. Not 30%. Not even 20%. It was a similar situation with other listed devices. Perhaps the website had not been properly updated.

We called Yudala to find out how much the available Infinix smartphones are going for in the promo. We were disappointed. The rep on the phone told us that what Yudala is offering is a N500 discount on each Infinix smartphone. We asked why the discrepancy between the newspaper report which specifically mentioned 50% discount and their N500 discount. The Yudala representative seemed to have been programmed to repeat a set of responses which amounted to, “The N500 discount is what we are offering.”

We are not sure whether it was the Vanguard correspondent who got things mixed up (though that is doubtful, considering that the news item contained a direct quote from Infinix), or it is Infinix that dropped the ball, or Yudala, or perhaps a combination of the two brands. Whatever it is, if you have been excited about the Yudala Infinix Month promotion, please calm down, sit down and have a cup of coffee. There isn’t anything to be excited about there.

No vanguard didn’t get it wrong. Notice that such promo ALWAYS use lines like “Get UP To xxx discount”. Their idea being that the discount offered can be anywhere from 0 – xx. For some websites they go a step further by doubling the original price and attach a discount to arrive just below the original cost.

The problem is that those companies are rarely challenged by consumer protection groups. Or maybe people complain more on social media rather than officially to the powers-that-be which is why the habit continues?

I disagree with you in part. When and ad says “up to 50% off” there’s usually AT LEAST one item that meets that 50% criteria, with most falling into the “sweet spot” of 10-20%. This wasn’t the case here. Seems the intention was just to drive traffic to their site.

The sleight of hand doubling the price isn’t new. I’ve watched it happen enough on Amazon and other sites where they raise it from the regular price and even with the “discount” it works out to more than the regular price is used to sell at.

At least if I’m buying I make sure I’ve been monitoring the price way beforehand prior to any “discount sale”